The Divine Proverb of Streusel

Title: The Divine Proverb of Streusel
Author: Sara Brunsvold
Major Themes: Family, Forgiveness, Farm Life, Cooking, German Culture
Synopsis: Struggling to deal with her parent’s divorce after an affair, Nikki Werner goes to spend the summer with her uncle on the old home property—and in the process, discovers help and advice in an old family notebook.

Publisher’s description:

Esther’s review:

After thoroughly enjoying The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip last year, I was excited to see that Sara Brunsvold’s next book, The Divine Proverb of Streusel, was on its way to being released as well. And what fun to finally have it in my hands and get to read it! Mom and I planned to try to buddy-read the story, but that didn’t last long, since she’s a much faster reader than me. Regardless, we had fun swapping thoughts and predictions as we went—and we had quite a few of those! This story kept us guessing in some ways.

Sara Brunsvold does an incredible job writing character-driven stories. The Divine Proverb of Streusel is not a fast-paced, plot-driven sort of story. Instead, it is much more thoughtful, and you get to go deep with the characters. I love that! I felt like I was able to relate to Nikki, even though I’ve never been in her situation, because Brunsvold did such a good job diving deep into who she was and why she handled things the way she did. And I loved Uncle Wes…and Joyce…and Aunt Emma was a hoot! I love spunky older ladies, and she was the perfect example of one.

The other part of this story that I enjoyed was the historical side. I loved the way Brunsvold brought German-Americans to life in this way, and showed how culture had to so dramatically change for them when World War I started. The recipes shared throughout the story were a lot of fun, too. Since my family is part German, I had to wonder if some of the things described here wouldn’t have been true of my ancestors as well—and if they made similar foods, or not.

Overall, I appreciated The Divine Proverb of Streusel, and had fun reading it with Mom—and making predictions as to what I thought would happen next (we didn’t get it all right!). This is a powerful story of despair and the hope Christ can give—if we allow Him to work in our lives.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it.

Emma’s review:

Last year, I read Sara Brunsvold’s debut novel, The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip. I loved that book! When I saw her second book coming out, The Divine Proverb of Streusel, I pre-ordered a print copy. I also signed up for a review copy so that I could read it early. It was worth reading!

Sara Brunsvold has a way of developing characters so that the reader really cares about them. Normally, a side character dying in a book doesn’t bother me that much, but it really got me in this one. I had grown to care about that person that much! I very quickly loved certain characters, and disliked others, although I was glad to see that some of those changed enough by the end of the book that I liked them a lot better. The setting of the story felt very real, too. The Divine Proverb of Streusel is set in the community in which the author grew up, and her descriptions made the area come alive. I quickly grew to love the area and the people. I loved the way Nikki learned to make sense of her life and how to get along with the people she loved, by learning about her heritage. There was a lot more I loved, too, but I can’t mention any more lest I give spoilers. Be sure to read this book! It is good; not quite as great, in my opinion, as Mrs. Kip, but well worth spending time with.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

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